Editorial policy

This page sets out how the guides on this site are researched, dated and corrected. It exists so you can judge the content rather than take it on trust.

Sourcing

Facts are drawn from primary sources wherever a primary source exists, in this order of preference:

1. The agency that manages the site: the National Park Service, a state parks department, the U.S. Forest Service, a county or municipal authority.
2. Official published documents: fee schedules, forest orders, municipal ordinances, permit rules, tide and water-quality data.
3. Manufacturer specification sheets and standards bodies for gear: U.S. Coast Guard approval listings, ISO and EN standards, published product specs.
4. Named practitioners and reporting outlets that did their own primary work, attributed and linked.

Aggregator pages that summarise other aggregator pages are not used as sources. Where a claim can only be traced to one, the claim is dropped.

Dating

Every guide carries two dates: the date it was first published and the date its facts were last checked. The check date is the one that matters. A fee schedule verified in 2026 is worth more than an article first written in 2020 and never revisited.

Where a fact is inherently unstable, such as a seasonal fee or a temporary closure order, the guide says so and gives you the phone number or the page to check it against yourself.

Original analysis

Several guides include analysis we ran ourselves, usually a count across a defined set of sources. Where that appears, the method and the date are stated next to the number so you can repeat it. If we counted nine pages, the guide says nine pages, not a percentage that implies a larger sample.

Affiliate links

Some guides in the Travel Advisor section contain affiliate links, including Amazon Associates links. If you buy through one, this site may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. Any guide containing them says so in a disclosure at the top, above the recommendations.

Products are selected on published specifications, certifications and fit for the stated use. Commission rates play no part in ranking. Where a category has no product worth recommending for a given use, the guide says that instead of filling the slot.

Prices and availability change constantly and are not reproduced here, because a price printed in an article is wrong within weeks. Follow the link for the current figure.

What we will not publish

• Statistics with no traceable source
• Quotes attributed to people who did not say them
• Ranked lists padded out to reach a round number
• Headlines that promise something the article does not deliver

Corrections

If a fee, rule, closure or specification on this site is out of date or wrong, we want to know. Send the page and the correct source through the contact form. Corrected pages are updated in place and the check date is moved forward. Substantive corrections are noted in the text rather than made silently.

Safety

Guides on this site describe outdoor activities that carry real risk, including drowning, hypothermia, injury on unimproved trails and exposure. Nothing here is a substitute for current conditions, local advice or your own judgement on the day. Undeveloped hot springs, open water and backcountry trails are unsupervised environments and you enter them at your own risk.